On Friday night, I met up with friends at The 3rd Stop after work. They had a large selection of beers on tap, but I dig my local brews, so I stuck with a Craftsman. I had the Biere de Blanco this time. The food options were not Bronwen-friendly, but more on that later. The people I was with enjoyed their meals, which were pretty standard pub fare options.

Saturday morning, I was moving pretty early. We headed out to Flore Vegan in Silverlake for breakfast. I had blueberry pancakes with tempeh bacon. Lemonade was not available at 10am, because the restaurant had run out of lemons. (Okay? Maybe take lemonade off the blackboard then?) The pancakes were fine, but the tempeh bacon was actually quite awful. It was cold and just plain didn’t hold together. I’m really not a fan of breakfast food, but my boyfriend is, so I wanted to give Flore a shot. Lunch was being served simultaneously, and some of the wraps and sandwiches coming out of the kitchen looked fantastic. Next time, I’ll lunch while he breaks.

I recently started eating exclusively vegan foods. I am increasingly intolerant of lactose in my old age. I have traditionally enjoyed a cast-iron stomach; it used to take a hell of a lot to upset my digestion, but this is simply no longer the case. Additionally, I hate eggs, and I don’t like most forms of meat. I find fish, seafood, and cow (at times) tasty, but that’s about it. More recently, meat started giving me similar problems to the dairy. Meat doesn’t really make me feel that much better than dairy does lately. I did a tiny little experiment of cutting out dairy during a 5-day work week, and, dude, it felt fantastic. So, I went more whole hog, very suddenly. It’s really not difficult. I’m cooking, and it turns out I’m pretty good at it. I feel so much better throughout my day, and the health effects that I was hoping to see have already started rather dramatically.

Anyway. I watched some men’s semifinal action. Went to see 3:10 to Yuma. I enjoyed it. The ending was a little sweet, but hey. I tend to forget Russell Crowe exists, but he’s crazy good, right? Despite his talent, Ben Foster nearly stole the movie as far as I was concerned.

We met up with my friend for dinner at Pure Luck after the movie. Pure Luck exists in this very interesting block of Heliotrope where the hardcore cyclists of Los Angeles congregate. Pure Luck serves vegan food & local beer on tap. It may be my favorite restaurant of all time. I split the spring rolls and then had an avocado tostada, washed down with a Craftsman Heavenly Hefe. So good. Afterwards, we walked right across Heliotrope to Scoops, where I had a dish of black sesame & ginger. Scoops serves multiple vegan flavors every day alongside the crazy inventive dairy flavors.

Sunday, I slept! I watched the women’s final, followed by the men’s final. I caught up on comic books. I was treated to dinner at Real Food Daily, which was a very nice treat indeed. We split a hummus plate for an appetizer, and then I ate a good 3/4ths of the supreme burrito. I had some organic pilsner to drink, and I totally forget what it was, but it was tasty enough. I’d try something harder next time. We split a piece of peach/apple pie for dessert. holler.

After dinner, we headed out to the Hollywood Bowl to see Underworld. I was vaguely familiar with Underworld, but I’d never gone out of my way to listen to them. Me and dance music aren’t exactly tight. But they gave a nice performance, and I had a swanky nice seat that I did not pay for, so all was well. I was out past bedtime on a school night though, so I’m a little sleepyheaded today.